Oftentimes, objects, such as and without limitation footwear, garments, and/or substantially any type of apparel (e.g., shoes, boots, moccasins, pants, coats, shirts, and the like) are secured upon an individual by use of lacing and either apertures or eyelets within the apparel through which the lacing is traversed and fastened or tied. Particularly, conventional lacing, such as and without limitation, leather lacing may degrade over time, become brittle and break, or become un-laced, thereby rendering the apparel un-wearable until such time that the lacing can be replaced or re-laced. More particularly, the task of leather re-lacing may be very difficult for an individual to perform if the individual is not a professional (e.g., a shoe repair person, a tailor, a seamstress, and/or the like) or does not have access to or own the proper tools to perform a re-lacing task without damaging the apparel which requires re-lacing.
Previous methods for re-lacing or performing a “threading” task include, but are not limited to: an individual manually forcing a leather lace through a plurality of apertures or eyelets; and an individual paying a professional to repair or re-lace apparel. Both of these previous methods each suffer from some drawbacks.
For example and without limitation, an individual manually forcing a leather lace through a plurality of apertures or eyelets may be very difficult not to damage if the apparel is made form a delicate material. That is, a material, such as and without limitation, suede, silk, leather, and/or the like may have relatively small punctures or apertures through the material which originally received a leather lace which served to fasten the relatively delicate material around a portion of an individual's body. These punctures through the material may be ripped, torn, stretched, or otherwise undesirably altered if and/or when an individual attempts to forcibly thread a leather lace through them, which may potentially ruin or render the apparel unusable. In the case that the punctures or apertures are damaged, an individual must either throw the apparel away or pay a professional to attempt to fix the damage, both of which result in a substantial cost (i.e., either paying to replace the apparel or paying to have the apparel professionally repaired). Moreover, some types of apparel, such as leather boots or work boots oftentimes include eyelets which are shrouded or obstructed by another portion of the boot (e.g., the tongue of the boot can obstruct the eyelets of the boot to the point which a conventional leather lace may not easily pass through the eyelet or aperture).
In further example and without limitation, an individual paying a professional to repair or re-lace apparel requires the individual to travel to a qualified repair person, leave the damaged or un-laced apparel with the repair person, wait an amount of time until the repair person has completed the repair or re-lacing of the apparel (e.g., if the repair person can complete the repair or re-lacing while the individual waits), travel or return to the location from where the individual originally traveled from, wait for the repairs or re-lacing to be performed by the professional repair person (e.g., if the repair person cannot perform the repair while the individual waits, the wait is oftentimes more than twenty-four hours or one business day), travel back to the repair person when the repair or re-lacing has been performed, pay a monetary amount for the services provided by the repair person, and finally travel to where the individual first traveled from.
This previous method for paying a professional to re-lace or repair apparel not only requires an expenditure of money on every occasion which apparel needs re-lacing or repairing, but it requires a significant amount of waiting, a significant amount of traveling, and a significant amount of time which the individual cannot wear the apparel which requires re-lacing or repair.
There is therefore a need for a method which allows an individual to perform a threading task. There is also a need for a method which allows a non-professional individual to quickly, conveniently, reusably, and cost-effectively perform a threading task themselves, and which overcomes some or all of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior pressurized storage container heating methods.
The present invention addresses these and other needs in a new and novel manner, as will be discussed in the following description of preferred, embodiments, within the appended claims, and with reference to the following drawings.